Students Making Games Out of Math, Science
October 18, 2010 - News Release
Learning long division or understanding force distribution may not sound enjoyable for some. But University of Guelph engineering students have designed games for children and teenagers aimed at making math and science fun.
Area students will be able to test out 65 new games at the Guelph Civic Museum Oct. 18 to 29. More than 300 students from Guelph elementary and high schools have signed up to visit the game displays. Members of the public are welcome to drop in, particularly on Oct. 23 and 24.
The game design project is part of a first-year engineering design course on campus.
“This is the first year we have done this, and I am very impressed with the games that have been designed,” said engineering professor Khosrow Farahbakhsh, who teaches the course along with colleague Prof. David Lubitz. “The students all came up with original ideas.”
The only rule: no video games. Most are board games, card games or another hands-on activity. Math and science components match curriculum levels between grades 1 and 10.
“We chose children’s games because designing games is a sophisticated process that incorporates all aspects of design from sketching the design and building the toy to writing the game instructions and creating the box the toy comes in,” said Farahbakhsh. “Plus, games are something that all the students are familiar with.”
The engineering students will visit the museum to gather feedback from the players.
“This gives the students a chance to become engaged with the community,” he said. “Our students are very excited about having the games available at the museum because they will be able to see the relevance of their design at work.”
The students plan to incorporate player suggestions into a final version of the game to be submitted as part of their course.
Schools can still sign up to participate. For more information or to register, call the Guelph Civic Museum at 519-836-1221, Ext. 2773, or send email to val.harrison@guelph.ca. The museum is open to the public daily from 1 to 5 p.m.
For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, 519-824-4120, Ext. 53338, or lhunt@uoguelph.ca, or Deirdre Healey, Ext. 56982 or d.healey@exec.uoguelph.ca.
